It was indeed your post, I copied it. And we all have our own ideas about what is sad. Have any of you actually answered the thread question yet?

My son and mother, fresh flowers, sunny days, music, exercise, hot tea, purpose, valiance, a through line to my dreams, order, film, long lunches on a ocean front restaurant terrace with good friends….like potato chips one thing leads to another and just have one….the list goes on and on.

Bonnie….You didn’t say anything and you’re one of my favorite Republicans. Seriously I’m being turned into one too, sort of…have definitely had it up to my eyeshadow with some completely whacked liberalism.

Bonnie—Did you go to Cal? I used to live up near the Rose Garden in the Berkeley Hills and did some architectural studies at Cal. Berkeley counterculture is too much for me. There are places there I like; the Cheese Board and Chez Panisse…but mostly it’s a town over impressed by itself that doesn’t even have a good recycling program for being so liberal. And Berkeley people arrive straight out of central casting. The women are all wear the same baggy dresses, sandals, unkempt hair, and the men beetle-brow with plaid button-down shirts with pen protectors in their shirt pocket, and slouchy cords and sandals. So many sandals in that town. I think at the Sunday evening Universal Church of WiFi MeetUp and veggie pot-luck they discuss what sandals they’re wearing to the Tues Night Nuke Freeze Protest at Lawrence Livermore Labs with the moonlight Sierra Club walk and veggie Thai food after. But the Rose Garden area is terrific.

Bonnie, Appreciated your comments…without adding to them because perfect, just FYI in case don’t know, and since mentioned mingling of conservatism with libertarianism ‘Reagan’s’ “Shinning City on the Hill” came from Puritan Founding Father, John Winthrop. It is a great image.

I loved this! Will have to read the book and come back to watch the video when not doing four other things simultaneously. Is George Will the new WIlliam F. Buckley? It reminded me a bit of “My Dinner With Andre.” Juxtapositions mirroring each other about reality. Mr. Right Wing and Mr. Left Wing. George Will saying information is everywhere and just because Iran has nuclear knowledge, so does Copenhagen University. Did he stop giving his GOP secret handshake this week? Mr. Will is a very smart and articulate man but he lost me on the French aren’t nationalistic, and we are. Charlie Rose is correct, the French believe they have a superior culture, and I agree with them. They do. That’s why France is the most visited nation on Earth. But they are also nationalistic, while I don’t believe we are. But that’s coming from someone in a diverse, compact City that is different than the rest of the country. And it’s what part of the elephant are you feeling—if having tea with older Parisians on the Île Saint-Louis…then you’d be certain you are in a tremendously nationalistic culture, walk over to the bridge and to Deux Margots and listen to the students, and no. Was waiting for Charlie Rose to go all Andre Gregory and talk about being buried alive on Halloween, and George Will to be happy if he wakes up in the morning and there’s no cockroach in his coffee cup. I loved that film. And it’s that kind of amusing oddity listening to George Will talk about the inner life of a young Iranian man. I didn’t know that Republican men under 70 knew there was an inner life, let alone inner life in an outer country. This was good.

I wore heels when worked, but something classic not flashy. And often those shoes produce a painful looking gait. Having just spent four months recovering from a shattered foot and able to take long walks again, will never do anything to undermine my feet. Am not going to wear any of the dreadful orthopedic looking shoes you see around, there’s a happy medium. My favorites, ballet flats aren’t good to walk distances in either. No support.

Have always enjoyed beautiful paper, pens and putting together surprises to send. This week was the b-day of a friend in Santa Barbara. I sent her a copy of “Gifts From the Sea” that was soft pink, sand and white. At each chapter head was a sketch of the shell that was a metaphor for the essay. There’s a whimsical small shell shop on Fillmore. I bought large shells to match each chapter in the book. These had the same colors, and placed them into a pretty box with tissue paper to match, French ribbon, and beautiful wrapping paper. etc. and a note of all the last twenty +plus years of friendship have meant to me. I learned calligraphy from the nuns and usually pen my own cards rather than buy a commercial expression. It’s nice to slow down and think of making something beautiful, which used to be habitual, but as life speeds up that can go by the wayside instead of being the determinative factor in adding up the value in the days.

My reaction is that I am glad had a C-section. I notice that how fast my life is going depends on where I live. In the city there is infinitely more diversity of experience, but life is greatly speeded up. In the city you live from the mind. When live in small seaside resort, a day goes on forever, everything is set by nature’s clock, and you live from spirit naturally and without thinking about it.

True Maggi D, I was tall and wanted to be short like my sisters, grandmother and mother. They seemed more feminine, and have always imagined it must be harder on organs to be tall because blood has to travel farther.

As a child, I was tall and thin. My sisters and cousin were smaller, rounder and acted like girls. My youngest sister was so pretty and perfect with long blond hair, she seemed like a doll. I was a tomboy, Dad called me “Slats.” It hurt my feelings and made me envision myself as a stilt-walker, Not an attractive image. But I never dwelled on things, and was always with the boys playing golf, tennis, basketball, volleyball, foursquare, tetherball, shooting guns or bow and arrows, riding horses, playing chess, skiing. I figured boys would always be chums with me because I was good at sports, but they were ga-ga over girls like my sister. It was hard to imagine that I was going to be sexy or romantic, or that I would be ‘it’ for any man. When I was 17 I was finally comfortable with being tall, grateful that Mom drilled into us about great posture, and that my grandmother’s French friend, Miss Colburn who I just loved, always told me, “You are just like a French girl.” I thought that was the greatest compliment in the world. When I started working and was into a new element I saw that height (5’9”) was an advantage, and that all the men responded to my athletic physique, it helped in many things. The fact that they still do is a nice surprise because when young I thought at 40+ you had to cash in your “Girl Chips.” So I love what I regretted as a child, being tall with an athletic build, and pray through diligence I can be lucky to keep it.

Bonnie O—“The Richest Man in Babylon” I first heard of that book when I was in my early 20s (and a bibliophile since a kid) from one of my brother’s who I never knew to read much after “Andy Hardy” but he loved that book like a bible from about age 18. He started several companies and sold them, kept buying and fixing up houses and selling those. Then he built a mansion and opened a company that is spread across the western states and I believe Hawaii. Very successful….I think everything goes back to that book. One of the few books he’s ever mentioned to me, I read it because he said to…can’t even remember anything from it. But we both loved, “God, Country and Notre Dame” the rare book we both agreed on. I say whatever speaks to you and works. He’s always been one super focused guy.

I’ve read that this is becoming more and more prevalent because of high costs, etc. I guess am missing something because don’t see why it would be a problem, unless my son were a slob (which he isn’t) or not thoughtful about habits (music volume, keeping things in order) but he is super responsible so if it happened (which I doubt) I’d love it. Also, he had a very close friend who had a great mother who took both her son’s to europe every summer, etc, was getting his doctorate, was a private pilot, and shot himself. No one understood why. They thought just too much pressure. It’s too bad he couldn’t just stop what he was doing for awhile and go back with Mom. I think the world is very tough today for ‘kids.’ Baby Boomers had it much easier. I used to say in the 80s….if you could walk and chew gum at the same time you could make money. Today, it’s tough and the factors are beyond even really smart kids. they are overwhelmed.

But John G, the San Francisco Chronicle Wine writer recommended Two Buck Chuck’s Shiraz saying that you could buy $100 bottles that aren’t as good…..and Two Buck’s Chard won the Blue Ribbon at the California State Fair’s prestigious wine competition over 350 of the top California Chards (which am sure frosted the Napanistas because to say they dislike Fred Franzia….Two Buck’s ‘Dad’ would be an understatement. Not that I am drinking it or anything….always watching calories so save it for treats when out. There’s a lot of wine investors too, that’s for sure. Investment strategy from Vegas black-jack tables, gotta love that, esp since it worked.

The day my son packed his car for college and left was a sad day. He’s always so much fun the house seemed so empty with him gone. When he came home for holidays it seemed like a prince from a fairy tale arriving. The day after college graduation he went to Italy for the summer, and then to Paris that September for grad school. And that was it. Never came home. I would have loved it. The only way that will happen is when I move to Aix-en-Provence or if I moved to Lac de Annecy near the ski resorts.